“Some of it seemed kind of, frankly, degrading,” he said. “Some people are completely missing the mark, either analyzing the bill incorrectly or just saying whatever they want to make it seem like something it’s not.”

Ballinger said some are trying to link HB 1228 with Senate Bill 202, now Act 137 of 2015, which prohibits cities and counties from issuing ordinances to prohibit discrimination toward anyone who is not already protected under federal or state law.

“I think a lot of people got stirred up on 202 and so now they’re using this bill,” he said. “The reality is it should be uncontroversial, that people should have the right to believe what they believe and if the government is going to burden it they ought to have a good reason.”

Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, presented SB 202 on the Senate floor. He said the bill would prevent ordinances like one the Fayetteville City Council approved in August that included prohibitions against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing, employment and public services. Fayetteville voters repealed the ordinance in December.

This was also the occasion when a weepy Rep. Mary Bentley declaimed about the evils of being forced to engage in commerce with queer folk — taking care to spit out the words "lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender" with the distaste she believed they deserved, as opposed to an innocuous acronym, LGBT.

“I don’t think … a baker that loves the word of God, that’s bringing her children up to honor God and to worship God, should have her business destroyed because she doesn’t want to bake a cake for somebody that’s a transgender trying to marry somebody else.”

Is this really different from what Ballinger intends with his HB 1228. No. Here's the Stephens account from Feb. 13.

Ballinger said after the vote that HB 1228 would apply in the case of a baker who refused to make a cake for a gay or transgender person, although he said that “it doesn’t mean you automatically win.”

Ballinger also said he believes that gay rights and civil rights for blacks are different issues because people are born into their race but sexual orientation is “a choice.”

Got it? Black people get civil rights. Gay people don't. Discrimination is legal, particularly if you claim a religious pretext.

In other interviews, Ballinger has made clear he viewed the bill as an antidote to the Fayetteville ordinance that extended civil rights protections to LGBT people.

It would appear today there's a bit of discomfort with being seen nationally as bigots. The lead LGBT hater in Arkansas, Jerry Cox, is also distributing disingenuous talking points that this bill isn't about what critics say iit is. He hammers the "religious freedom [to discriminate]" message incessantly — without the parenthetical accurate context.

The Ballinger bill and the Bart Hester bill that Gov. Asa Hutchinson waved into the statute books are intended to protect legal discrimination against gay people — in employment, housing and commercial services. In some quarters, including most Fortune 500 companies, this presents a damaging (if true) image of Arkansas. So let's talk about religion — solid gold in Arkansas legislative debates — not about discrimination.

To "good Arkansas Christians" religious faith requires discrimination against gay people. Other sinners are granted exemptions when they want to buy a cake.

PS — It is true this bill is not ONLY about discriminating against gay people, though that's the immediate motive force. It is dangerous particularly because, as witnesses yesterday noted, it offers up a religious defense to all sorts of things that we take for granted — from medical services to city zoning. It is dangerous legislation.

Speaking of...

Republican legislators invoked the will of the voter regularly, but if you watch closely, it's only when they AGREE with the will of the voter. See efforts underway already by Republican lawmakers to tamper with the just-approved medical marijuana amendment. /more/

Sen. Bart Hester, a Republican from Cave Springs who's been endeavoring lately to end state support for the state-owned War Memorial Stadium among other attacks on government spending, distributed a news release today saying he was working on a proposed $105 million income tax cut. /more/

The War Memorial Stadium budget debate is full of red herrings from Sen. Bart Hester. Public services are rarely self-sustaining. We pay taxes to support things of public value. /more/

John Brummett reports that Gov. Asa Hutchinson wishes the legislature wouldn't pass a "bathroom bill" to discriiate against transgender people. That wish falls far short of a belief in equal rights for LGBT people, however. /more/

President Obama has become an issue in a race for Bentonville School Board, or so an anonymously financed mailer would have you believe. It's more bigotry from so-called Christians, most likely. /more/

Article notes Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's legal pressure to strike down a Fayetteville ordinance that prohibits discrimination, including on sexual orientation and gender. /more/

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge can't be bothered with illegal payday lending in Arkansas, among other pressing business not worthy of her time such as malfeasance of office by Secretary of State Mark Martin in abetting the illegal removal of eligible voters from the voter rolls. But she has plenty of time to pursue a national right-wing agenda. /more/

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